“Thirty-five years ago Pablo, María, Julia, and I were all seniors in high school. I’d been dating María since we were freshman,” began Frederico.

He sat at the kitchen table, sipping at a glass of water. Peter sat across from him, listening intently, while Dominic worked on cooking a hearty breakfast to help cure his father’s hangover.

“I was deeply in love with María. I’d saved up my money all summer, working three different jobs, so I could buy a house and ask her to marry me. I knew María’s father wouldn’t accept me as his son-in-law unless I was well prepared. So, I made sure everything was in order and I had my best friend, Pablo, help me plan how I was going to propose to her.” Frederico took a long drink of water.

“This stuff would be a lot better with a shot of tequila,” he said, looking at the empty glass with a sigh.

“More alcohol isn’t going to cure your hangover,” chastised Peter, taking the empty glass and refilling it. “Hydrate yourself.”

Frederico pouted a little as he looked down at his glass.

“Anyway,” he continued, “I had sent Pablo on an undercover mission to learn as much about María’s favorite things as possible. I wanted the proposal to be an affair she would never forget. Pablo began spending a lot of time around María, asking her questions, getting to know her, all because I’d asked him to.

“I should have known it wasn’t a good idea. However, I believed that because he was my best friend I could trust him not to betray me. I even asked him, point blank, if he thought he was falling in love with her. He didn’t even hesitate when he told me that he was not. I should have seen right through him then.”

Frederico closed his eyes for a long moment, as if the memory he was reliving was particularly painful for him.

“It was a week before we were to graduate from high school when they came to me. María, my beloved girlfriend, the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and Pablo, my closest friend and a man I would have trusted everything with. They walked, hand in hand, right up to me and asked me for my blessing.

“They told me how they’d fallen in love over the last several weeks. They begged me to understand and swore that they hadn’t intended to betray me. I couldn’t look at either of them. All I could do was turn away and leave the room. I was afraid that if I’d stayed I would’ve said something I could never unsay.

“My heart was broken. In a single instant I’d lost the two most important people in my life. So I turned to Julia to help ease the pain. I felt bad for using her at the time, because my heart still belonged to María, but Julia didn’t seem to mind. She seemed happy to be by my side and eager to make me happy. Her simple commitment helped me through one of the most difficult times in my life and she began to help me heal.”

Frederico took a deep breath. “Whatever you’re cooking smells good,” he said, looking over at Dominic who was busy at the stove.

“It’ll be done in just a minute,” Dominic reassured him. “Finish your story.”

“Fine.” Frederico seemed to be growing more reluctant as his tale dragged on. He took a big gulp of water, and continued. “We all graduated, and they went their own way. However, less than two months passed before the rumors began to spread. María was pregnant.

“Her father and Pablo hastily arranged a wedding, and they were married before fall. However, something continued to bother me so I confronted them. If María and Pablo’s relationship had only begun after I sent Pablo to learn what he could, then there was no way she could have been as far along as she was.”

“That was when Pablo confessed to me his greatest sin. They’d lied to me.”

“They’d been together that entire summer. While I was working to buy a house, Pablo had swept in behind me and taken her from me. He had known my plans. I’d confided in him my true feelings for her and my intentions. He’d betrayed me anyway.”

“Before I could have almost forgiven him. If they’d truly fallen in love during a mission I’d sent him on, then I couldn’t really blame them, could I? Now, however, it was clear to me that my best friend had been nothing more than low-life scum the entire time.”

Frederico clenched his jaw for a moment and squeezed his eyes shut.

“There’ve been many times where you’ve heard me call María things that were less than kind,” said Frederico to no one in particular. “This is why. While she was cheating on me with my best friend, she continued her sexual relationship with me as well. At no point did her affection towards me wane. I never suspected that someone else was drawing her away from me because she always seemed eager to be with me.

“When I learned this, another truth came to light in my eyes. The baby she was carrying could have been mine. This was a long time ago and our island has never been the most advanced. There was no way we could conduct a paternity test, and without solid proof, I had no chance of ever having contact with my son after he was born.”

“They named him Miguel. He was beautiful, but I could only ever see him from a distance in the arms of the woman I still loved and the friend that betrayed me.” Frederico shook his head.

“So Mom was right then,” said Dominic, half turning away from the stove. “What she told me this morning is right...that Miguel and I are brothers...”

“What? No.” Frederico looked confused. “I don’t know what your mother said. Just let me finish my story.” He cleared his throat.

“Julia and I were married later that same year. However, over the next several months we became aware of a disturbing reality. Something that we’d never even considered to be a possibility. We were struggling to have a child of our own. We visited the clinic, and after several tests, the doctor confirmed that I was sterile.”

“For some reason, I have never been capable of fathering children. The baby boy that I’d watched from a distance couldn’t possibly be my son.”

“Dad?” Dominic turned fully towards him now.

“Y-your mother and I adopted you while you were still an infant after your birth mother perished in a boating accident. Your birth father had been living in the US with your birth mother, but returned to the island with you after she died. However, he’d underestimated the depth of his own grief and the difficulty of raising a child on his own.”

“He came to us directly, and we agreed to raise you as our own. After the adoption was finalized, he left the island and we didn’t hear from him again until you were nearly five.”

Dominic felt his chest tighten. “Tío...”

Frederico nodded slowly. “Isaac, my brother, was your birth father. However, without your birth mother’s guiding hand, he wasn’t really cut out for fatherhood. When he returned from his nomadic wandering, he was content to fulfill the role of the adoring uncle.”

“I just...” Dominic turned off the stove and slowly sank into one of the kitchen chairs. “You’re telling me, that all this time, thirty-five years, I was adopted? Tío was my father? Why did mom lie to me this morning? Why do you hate Miguel? And why was Tío...”

“A criminal?” asked Frederico. “Everything is so complicated that it’s difficult to piece it all out sometimes. I...I’m sorry we didn’t tell you sooner. Isaac and I had agreed to tell you the truth once you turned sixteen. He wanted to get out of the mess he was in with a drug cartel and clean himself up first. He wanted to be someone you could be proud of.”

“However, things turned south. Your mother found out that we were planning to tell you the truth about your parentage. She’d always been extremely defensive and highly protective of you. After Isaac came back she frequently worried that he would take you away from her. As someone that had always wanted kids, but was stuck with someone unable to give her any, her fear was a little understandable.”

“I just didn’t realize exactly how deep her fear ran. She turned Isaac in to the authorities and got him arrested. She gave them the time and place for a drug drop that she’d overheard from Isaac, and the police were able to bust him and several others. They all turned on him, but he kept his mouth shut. So he was sentenced to life imprisonment.”

“Because of that, Isaac and I agreed that it was for the best not to tell you the truth. He didn’t want you to know how badly he’d messed up, and he didn’t want you to grow up hating your mother. So we kept it a secret.”

“But...” Dominic shook his head. “Miguel turned him in. The photo.”

“Was he the one that left that picture at the police station?” Frederico sighed. “The police asked us repeatedly if we knew where if had come from. They said that without someone to explain the photo, it was just a picture of Isaac unloading his boat with some of his known associates. It’s not immediately clear in the picture that they’re actually doing anything illegal. The picture was filed, but it couldn’t be used in his trial.”

Dominic opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t form words. The strangest feeling had settled over him. The feeling that he’d spent the past twenty-five years being angry at someone who wasn’t even responsible for Isaac’s arrest. He’d wasted so much energy hating Miguel that’d he’d never even stopped to consider the reality of the situation. How could a single picture, without context, be responsible for the life incarceration of someone with as good a reputation as Isaac had had?

“As for the rest of your questions,” Frederico exhaled sharply before continuing, “my dislike for Miguel is petty. It merely has to do with the fact that he’s the son of a man I trusted and a woman that I never got over. In some way, some small part of me still believes he’s my flesh and blood. Even though I know that’s physically impossible. Maybe it’s that conflict of emotions when I see him that causes him to get under my skin. I don’t know for certain.”

“As for your mother. I’m worried for her. I’m not certain what would cause her to lie to you like that. The only time she ever acted so unpredictably was when she was afraid she was going to lose you.” Frederico pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “I don’t fully understand her actions, but please don’t hate her for them. I think she may be in need of some mental health care. There are so few options for that sort of thing here though, so as long as she’s not a danger to anyone I’ve tried to muddle through it all.”

“Would I be correct in assuming that’s why you spend so much time on your boat?” asked Peter.

“This is the first time I’ve ever shared all of this with anyone,” admitted Frederico. “Sometimes, sitting alone in my boat is the only way I can try to make sense of it all. How we ended up here, how this convoluted mess became my life. I don’t want it to appear that I feel sorry for myself though, so I try to put a good face on it all. Or hide it beneath my ‘failing’ tour business.”

“Dad, listen, I know you made us promise not to tell anyone, but there’s at least one person that deserves to hear all of this as well.” Dominic looked at him directly.

“After you finish telling all of this to your boyfriend, would you mind apologizing to him for me?” asked Frederico. “The two of you teaming up kind of brought everything to light again. It brought up too many memories of when you were kids and Isaac was around. It reminded me of the long standing anger and frustration I still feel towards your mother because of her actions. Then our anniversary happens and it’s the perfect storm almost.”

“I’ll tell him,” said Dominic, rising once more and returning to the food he’d been preparing. “After I get off work tonight, we’re going to come over and use your grill. If you don’t mind.”

Frederico smiled softly to himself. “Of course, you’re welcome to it. The only condition is that I get to test some of your cooking. That’s all I ask.”

“Yeah, Dad, of course. Just, promise me that’s everything. There’s nothing else that you guys are hiding that’s going to pop out and bite me in the future?” Dominic locked eyes with his father.

“Don’t worry,” chuckled Frederico. “There’s nothing left to hide.”